58 percent
of schools in
Florida dropped
a letter grade
BY LAUREN DELGADO
Idelgado@jcfloridan.com
The Jackson County School
District maintained its 'B' grade
this year, despite increased FCAT
grading standards and achieve-
ment levels facing students.

Superintendent of Schools
Lee Miller said although he was
hoping for an 'A' for the district,
overall he was pleased at all the
released grades so far.
"I just attribute it to our great
teachers that we've got work-
ing hard," Miller said. "Our stu-
dents have been putting forth a
good effort." %1
Among other Florida school
districts, about 58 percent
dropped a letter grade. The
number of 'A districts de-
creased from 30 in 2011 to 14.
in 2012. The number of 'B'

districts decreased from 23 in
2011 to 22 in 2012. The number
of'C' districts increased from 13
in 2011 to 24 in 2012. The num-
ber of'D' districts increased from
one in 2011 to seven in 2012.
About 16 districts fell from an
A to a B, 17 from a B to a C, and
six from a C to a D.
Grades for elementary and
middle, schools. were released
last week, with five Jackson
,County schools making As and
one school making a B. High
school grades are expected later
in the year.

Elections
l om iCHIPOL ENTER FOR THE ARTS

SRibbon cutting held

PHOTOSBY MARKiINNNR/,FLORlDAN
State attorney candidate Jim Appleman (left) squared
off against Chief Assistant State Attorney Greg Wilson on
Monday night during a candidate's forum being held by
Concerned American Patriots of Jackson County. Wilson
was representing incumbent State Attorney Glenn Hess,
who had to be away because of a family emergency.

During a political forum hosted by the Concerned
American Patriots of Jackson County, Dr. Willie Spires
(left) and Alex McKinnie make their cases for why they,
should have the Jackson County Commission District 1
seat.

State and local

office seekers

face offat forum

BY DEBORAH BUCKHALTER
dbuckhalter@jcfloridan.com
A local political forum got off to an argumenta-
tive start Monday night before any of the invited
candidates ever took their places at the podiums.
A contentious exchange resulted
when one of the organizers decided
to present a brief Constitutional
tutorial.
To open the session, which was put
on by the local Concerned American
Patriots organization, one of the mod-
erators asked members of the crowd
Coley whether they would ever consider vot-
ing for Marco Rubio for president. Af-
ter a show of hands, he said his query
had been a "trick question," and then
stated that'Rulbio would not actually
be eligible because, he asserted, he is
not a natural born citizen as the U.S.
Constitution requires.
Someone in the crowd challenged
Glidewell that claim, and warned' him not to
make such public statements if he
couldn't back it up.
See FORUM, Page 7A

PHOTOS BY MARK SKINNER/FLORIDAN
ABOVE: As some people tour the extensive facilities in the new Chipola College Center for the Arts, others enjoyed a
moment in the spotlight on the main stage. BELOW: Chipola Theater Director Charles Sirmon raises the curtain on the
main stage at the new Chipola Center for the Arts on Tuesday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Building

opens in

grand style
BY LAUREN DELGADO
Idelgado@jcfloridan.com
With lots of laughs and
a touch of theatrics, the
Chipola Center for the Arts
opened to students and
the community alike on
Tuesday.
The dream to bring stu-
dents and the commu-
nity a better, more mod-
ern theater space began
more than 20 years ago,
said Chipola President Dr.

Gene Prough.
"We've gone through sev-
eral capital improvement
plans, written and rewrit-
ten them and here we are
today," Prough said.
A number of people
were thanked during
the ceremony, from the
Board of Trustees to the
faculty and staff at the
school, but two people
in particular were given
-special recognition at the
ceremony.,
Florida Rep. Marti Coley
received special thanks
for not only her effort, but
her husband David Coley's
work to bring the center to
Chipola College.
See CENTER, Page 7A

STORM KNOCKS DOWN TREE
T- he intense winds that
.accompanied one
.of the first thunder-
storms that rolled through
,i :, ,, ,.Marianna on Tuesday after-
^ .. noon broke off part of this
-tree in Confederate Park. The
:current forecast is calling for
temperatures in the high 80s
and low 90s for the rest of the
-. week with a chance of
.... ARKSIN.E RFlIlJ thunderstorms every day.

MISS YOUR PAPER?
You should receive your newspaper no later
than-6 a.m. If it does not arrive, call Circula- .
tion between 6 a.m. and noon, Tuesday to
Friday, and 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on SundayThe
Jackson County Floridan (USPS 271-840)
is published Tuesday though Friday and
Sunday mornings. Periodical postage paid
- at Marianna, FL.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Home delivery: $11.23 per month; $32.83
for three months; $62.05 for six months;
and $123.45 for one year. All prices include
applicable state and local taxes. Mail
subscriptions must be paid in advance. Mail
subscriptions are: $46.12 for three months;
$92.24 for six months; and $184.47 for one
year.

ADVERTISING
The advertiser agrees that the publisher
shall not be liable for damages arising
out of errors and advertisements beyond
the amount paid for the space actually
occupied by that portion of the advertise-,
ments in which the error occurred, whether
such error is due to the negligence of the
publisher's employees or otherwise, and
there shall be not liability for non-inser-
tion of any advertisement beyond the
amount paid for such advertisement. This
newspaper will not knowingly accept or
publish illegal material of any kind. Advertis-
ing which expresses preference based on
legally protected personal characteristics is
not acceptable.

HOW TO GET YOUR
NEWS PUBLISHED
The Jackson County Floridan will publish
news of general interest free of charge.
Submit your news or Community Calendar
events via email, fax, mail, or hand delivery.
Fees may apply for wedding, engagement,
anniversary and birth announcements.
Forms are available at the Floridan offices.
Photographs must be of good quality and
suitable for print. The Floridan reserves the
right to edit all submissions.
GETTING IT RIGHT
The Jackson County Floridan's policy
is to correct mistakes promptly. To
report an error, please call 526-3614
Monday-Friday.

Comnunnity Calendar

TODAY
Fire Hydrant testing City of Marianna
conducts annual fire hydrant testing July 9-27. Resi-
dents experiencing water discoloration are advised
to run water until clear. Call 482-2414.
) Jackson County Habitat for Humanity Ware-
house hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
n Job Club 10:30 a.m. at the Marianna Goodwill
Career Training Center, 4742 U.S. 90 in Marianna.
Learn job seeking/retention skills. No charge. Call
526-0139.
) Alcoholics Anonymous open meeting Noon
to I p.m. in the AA room of First United Methodist
Church, 2901 Caledonia St. in Marianna.
) Jackson County Tourist Development Council
meeting -3 p.m. at the Russ House, 4318 Lafay-
ette St. in Marianna. Call 482-8060.

THURSDAY
D Marianna City Farmers Market Open at 7
a.m. in Madison Street Park.
D Grand Opening/Open House 9 a.m. at Little
Mama Gifts & Boutique, 2867 S. Jefferson St., Mari-
anna. Jackson County Chamber of Commerce will
conduct a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Call 209-1385
or 482 8060.
) St. Anne's Thrift Store July sale 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. at 4285 Second Ave., Marianna. Call 482-3734.
) Caregiver Support Group meeting -11 a.m.
to noon in the First Presbyteridn Church Social
Hall, 4437 Clinton St. in Marianna. Open to all
family caregivers providing care to l6ved ones or
friends. Confidential group, facilitated by a profes-
sional group counselor. Coffee, water, light snacks
provided.
) Orientation 12:30-3:30 p.m. at the Marianna
Goodwill Career Training Center, 4742 U.S. 90 in
Marianna. Register for free job placement and com-
puter training; learn about services. Call 526-0139.
a Free employability workshops "EFM:' 1:30-
2:30 p.m.; "Resume:'," 3-4 p.m.; and "Mathematics,"
4-5 p.m. at the Marianna One Stop Career Center.
Call 718-0326.
3 Jackson County NAACP meeting 5:30 p.m.
in the St. James A.M.E. Church basement, 2891
Orange St. in Marianna. Call 569-1294. .
) Free Summer Concert: Dry Creek -7 p.m.
at Citizens Park in Marianna. Presented by
Jackson County Parks and Recreation, Main

SATURDAY
3 Marianna City Farmers Market Open at 7
a.m. in Madison Street Park.
D Alford Community Health Clinic hours -10
a.m. until last patient is seen, at 1770 Carolina St. in
Alford. The free clinic for income-eligible patients
without medical insurance treats short-term
illnesses and chronic conditions. Appointments
available (call 263-7106 or 209-5501); walk-ins
welcome. Sign in before noon.
3 Alcoholics Anonymous open meeting 4:30-
5:30 p.m. in the AA room of First United Methodist
Church;, 2901 Caledonia St. in Marianna.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25
a Jackson County Habitat for Humanity
Warehouse hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The submission deadline for this caleridar is two days before publication. Submit to: Community Calendar, Jackson County Floridan, P. O. Box 520, Marianna, FL 32447,
email editorial@jcfloridan.com, fax 850-482-4478 or bring items to 4403 Constitution Lane in Marianna.

Police Roundup

MARIANNA POLICE
The Marianna Police De-
partment listed the following
incidents for July 15, the latest
available report: One acci-
dent with injury, one accident
without injury, one suspicious
vehicle, four suspicious people,
two power lines down, 13 traf-
fic stops, one illegally parked
vehicle, two animal complaint
and two public service calls.

JACKSON COUNTY
SHERIFF'S OFFICE
The Jackson County Sheriff's
Office and county fire/rescue
reported the following incidents
for July 16, the latest available
report. (Some of these calls
may be related to after-hours
calls taken on behalf of Gracev-
ille and Cottondale police

departments): One stolen tag,
two stolen vehicles, six aban-
doned vehicles; one reckless
driver, five
suspicipus
E 7 vehicles, one

,CRIME person, three
burglary
complaints,
three physi-
cal disturbances, three verbal
disturbances, one prowler
complaint, 18 medical calls,
two traffic crashes, one burglary
alarm complaint, one report
of a discharged fire alarm, one
fire alarm complaint, five traffic
stops, two larceny complaints,
three civil disputes, three
trespassing complaints, two
noise disturbances, four animal
complaints, one report of retail
theft/shopping, two public
service calls, one welfare check,

two transports, five threat/ha-
rassment complaints, two 911
hang up calls, one report coun-
terfeit money.

Kenneth Stephens wishes to an-
nounce his candidacy for re-election
to the Board of County Commission-
ers representing District 5 in Jackson
County.
Stephens is appreciative to the citi-
zens in District 5 for their trust and
confidence during the past election.
He is encouraging the voters to pro-
vide ongoing support.
Stephens grew up in Grand Ridge
arid developed an appreciation for
the land while working summers on
his uncle's farm and with other lo-
cal farmers. After graduating from
Grand Ridge High School in 1972, he
worked for various road construc-
tion companies and then went'to
work for his Dad in 1976 running
heavy equipment and clearing land.
In 1978, he bought his first piece
of equipment and went into busi-
ness for himself. Today his business
is known is Stephens Equipment
LLC.
Through the course of his business,
he has worked for and met the farm-
ing community in Jackson County
learning to appreciate the concerns
and struggles of the people.. Ste-
phens Equipment LLC is presently in'

its 34th year and now not only serves
the agricultural community but has
expanded to include
the residential and
commercial market
with various services.
He is married to,the
former Vickie W. Dan-
iels of Dellwood. She
Stephens currently serves as the
Dean of the School of
Health Sciences at Chipola College.
They have three children and eight
grandchildren. He is a member of
the Cypress Grove Assembly of God
Church.
He believes that his experience
with earth moving and stormwater
control has been an asset to the road
maintenance department. He offers
that his personal experience in de-
veloping residential properties has
been beneficial in understanding the
needs of the potential landowner and
the developer. During the past term,
there have been many accomplish-
ments including the resurfacing of
paved roads, the paving of unpaved
roads, the purchase of office space
and the installation of much needed
infrastructure.

Stephens has completed almost 12
years of municipal experience serv-
ing one term as District 5 County
Commissioner and previously as
mayor and town councilman for the
town of Grand Ridge. The collective
knowledge and experience obtained
working with local and county gov-
ernment certainly has given him an
opportunity to realize and under-
stand the needs .of the county and
its citizens. The roadway system and
the need for more jobs directly im-
pacts the citizens of Jackson County
and he looks forward to continuing
'all efforts to support fulfilling these
needs.
Stephens has served on the Can-
vassing Board, the Value Adjustment
Board and'currently is a member of
the Apalachee Regional Planning
Council and the Tourist Develop-
ment Council.
Stephens is thankful for the. pre-
vious support of the citizens of
District 5 and would greatly, ap-
preciate their continued support.
He states that it has been both -an
honor and a pleasure to serve as the
County Commissioner for District

LEGION AUXILIARY SPONSORS GIRL SCOUTS

COUNTY BUDGET

IS TOPIC FOR

KIWANIS CLUB

SUBMITTED PHOTO
ackson County Administrator Ted
Lakey (left) poses for a photo with Al
Adcock, who introduced-him as guest
speaker for a recent meeting of the Mari-
anna Kiwanis Club. Lakey discussed the
county budget.

Marriage, Divorce Report

Special to the Floridan

The following mar-
riages and divorces were
recorded in Jackson
County during the week
of July 9-13: ,
Marriages
Michelle Isabel Abar-
zua and Lance Eugene
Martin.
) Conrad Sebastian Van
Coller and Melanie Ruth
Sloan.

SUBMITTED PHOTO
A merican Legion Auxiliary Unit 100 President Mary Pettis (left) presents Girl Scout
Troop 76 leader Kristy Barnes with a check for current troop expenses. The Marianna
.AAuxiliary is now sponsoring the Alford troop, thanks to a generous donation from a lo-
cal veteran. The Auxiliary will provide funds and volunteer support for Trdop 76.

The Marianna Duplicate Bridge
Club announces the winners of the
game played July 16:
, ) First place Ida Knowles and
Sara Lewis.
) Second place Kurt Opfermann

))Third place Frances Subalesky
and Zillah Fossum.
) Fourth place John Selfe and
Betty Brendemuehl.
) Fifth place Dorothy Baxter and
Jane Sangaree.
The club, sanctioned by the Ameri-

bridge every Monday, 1 p.m. at St.
Luke's Episcopal Church, 4362 La-
fayette St. in Marianna. Anyone
is welcome to come and play or
observe.
For more information and part-
ners, call Libby Hutto at 526-3162.

voter fraud
It took about a year, but Florida has prevailed
upon the federal government to help the state
conduct fair and fraud-free elections.
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security ended its opposition to handing over a
key database to the Florida Department of State.
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitle-
ments database, or SAVE, is a comprehensive list
of citizens.
Florida will now cross-check its statewide
database of voters with the federal government's
SAVE database.
The Department of Homeland Security had
refused to share SAVE with the state, but the feds
weren't getting much help in court. A federal
judge recently refused to block Florida's efforts to
purge ineligible voters from its rolls.
It's unfortunate that what should be a normal
part of the process the removal of ineligible
voters from the rolls has become a highly
charged political issue.
With a pivotal presidential election looming,
Democrats and affiliated groups charge that Gov.
Rick Scott and the GOP are seeking to disqualify
voters who lean Democratic in their votes, in-
cluding Hispanics.
Republicans are trying to crack down on ineli-
gible voters, believing that cleaner voter rolls will
help them in November. .
Democrats believe high registration rates help
them in Florida. But the problem is that it's very
easy to sign up to vote.in many states. It is not
unusual for election clerks across the country to
learn of non-citizens being registered to vote.
Republicans believe they need to guard against
fraud so their side won't suffer from illegitimate
ballots. The problem with their stance is that they
could inadvertently disqualify-eligible voters a
risk that must be carefully guarded against.
Earlier this year, 2,700 voters were caught up
in an examination of Florida's 11.2 million vot-
ers. According to the Miami Herald, election
supervisors abandoned the purge because they
believed the list of ineligible voters was flawed
and inaccurate. Yet before the purge was halted,
six people wrote the Broward County election
supervisor and informed her they were not U.S.
citizens, according to the Herald.
The new database should help the state avoid
making errors as it did earlier this year when a
number of eligible Volusia County voters came
up on a purge list. That list included a retiree
who's been casting ballots since the Eisenhower
administration. But SAVE is not a perfect re-
source. Illegal aliens who have never been issued
immigration documents almost certainly will not
be found in the federal database.
Even so, the use of the comprehensive federal
database should ease, concerns regarding the
state's efforts to purge ineligible voters.
While the issue of voter fraud is no doubt a
political football, purging ineligible registrants is
part of the-electoral process. These efforts should
not threaten the eligibility of the vast majority of
voters.
The examination of the voter rolls also makes
sure a person's vote counts as one vote. Deliber-
ate fraud and the participation of ineligible vot-
ers diminish the value of each citizen's vote.
Florida should take steps to maintain the
integrity of its own voter rolls. It was right for the
Department of Homeland Security to allow the
state to use the SAVE database to cross-check its
information.
This compromise should put a damper on the .
partisan bickering and allow both parties to focus
on their most important tasks getting eligible
voters-to go the polls.

This editorial appeared in The Daytona News-Journal on Tuesday, July 17.

Looking ahead at Florida A&M

ANDREW J.SKERRITT

Anyone familiar with the ritual
of public scandal knew there'
was only one way this was
going to end. The only question
was when.
Seven months and three weeks
after paramedics put drum major
Robert Champion's body into an
ambulance, Florida A&M President
James Ammons did what every sen-
sible, detached observer expected.
He resigned. Finally.
What took so long?
Clearly, Ammons believed the
positive work he had accomplished
over the past five years would count
for something. It does. But the rules
of public scandal demand that a .
university president, no matter how
successful, accepts responsibility
when things go wrong. And things
went tragically wrong.
They started to go wrong long
before Champion died on Nov. 19,
2011, after being hazed by fellow
members of the Marching 100
band. The narrative of the scandal
suggests it's improbable the presi-
dent was unaware of the "culture of
hazing" pervasive in the band and
among other groups on campus.
IfAmmons knew, then he was
responsible for not ending it. If he
didn't know, why not?-
When Ammons was hired in 2007,
it seemed like such a good mar-
riage. He arrived at FAMU when the
'name of Interim President Castell
Bryant was a slur on the lip of every
Rattler. Ammons was the white
knight, the alumnus returning to
save his tattered alma mater.
His legacy includes an ambi-
tious vision to grow the university.

New construction on campus and
satellite campuses attest to his suc-
cess. He shepherded the university
through re-accreditation and didn't
hesitate to use federal stimulus
funds to blunt the impact of state
budget cuts.
But the Ammons brand began
to lose its shine over the last 20
months. In, October 2010, Chancel-
lor Frank Brogan publicly scolded
FAMU about its high number of
profile admits, those students not
quite ready for college. Not surpris-
ingly, ill-prepared students drop
out or take too long to graduate,
hurting the retention and gradua-
tion rates that measure a universi-
ty's success.
Then there was the administra-
tion's mishandling of layoffs in
May 2011. The FAMU community
was deeply scarred when, without
warning, scores of long-serving-
employees were stripped of their
keys and ushered out the door. It
seemed the administration no lon-
ger cared, failure of leadership.
And days before Champion
was hazed to death, FAMU's vice
president for auditing and compli-
ance resigned under pressure for
submitting executive summaries
instead of complete audit reports.
Champion's death and its after-'
math have been a tortuous unrav-
eling of a presidency that began
with promise.
So where does that leave the
FAMU?
With Ammons gone, the search is
on for both an interim and per-
manent replacement. Since this
scandal erupted last fall, Larry Rob-
inson, provost and vice president of
academic affairs, has been touted

as a likely successor. On Monday,
he was named interim president.
The Board of Trustees will take up
that matter again in August. Other
names will surely surface. Sadly,
Henry Lewis III, who filled in so ad-
mirably after Fred Gainous' ill-fated
tenure, is no longer available. Lewis
is trying to revive the fortunes
of Florida Memorial University.
Perhaps after turning the Univer-
sity of Maryland-Baltimore County
into a model for minorities pursu-
ing math and science, Freeman
Hrabowtki III might be-asked to do
the same at FAMU.
No matter who becomes the
11th FAMU president, it will take
at least four years for the stain of
this hazing scandal to fade. It could
take even longer before parents will
trust us again with their young men
and women.
The Board of Trustees can hasten
the process by selecting a presi-
dent unafraid to fully engage the
FAMU community-- students,
faculty, alum, parents, and even
the skeptics in rediscovering.
the true mission of this institution.
That president must again priori-
tize attracting top-tier students and
*producing graduates who aren't
just getting hired, but are changing
the landscape of business, industry
and the arts.
Most importantly, that person
must create a new FAMU brand.
Unfortunately for Ammons, he was
too closely tied to the old one.
Andrew J. Skerritt is an assistant professor of
journalism at Florida A&M Universityand the
author of Ashamed to Die: Silence, Denial and
the AIDS Epidemic in the South. He can be
reached at askerritt@floridavoices.com. Follow
him on twitter at andrewjskerrit.

Time to rethink how we compensate teachers

WILLIAM MATTOX

I t Was a brouhaha that left
many students and parents in
Florida's capital city without
a beloved principal. But for folks
well beyond Tallahassee and
even Florida it ought to serve as
a wake-up call for re-thinking our
society's upside-down patterns in
compensating educators.
Here's what happened: On the
Friday before Independence Day,
the local school superintendent
announced Leon High School
principal Rocky Haniia had been
"promoted" to a district office
administrative role. The news
startled almost everyone, including
Hanna, and evoked an immediate
firestorm.
Angry parents and students
organized a rally to protest the
move. The local newspaper and
many prominent residents urged
the superintendent to rethink his
decision. Recent graduates wrote
articles and letters describing how
Hanna belonged at Leon High,
"not at some district office desk
job."
To be sure, Hanna seemed
perfectly suited for his position as
principal of Florida's oldest public
high school. He is a graduate of
Leon High, part of a family with
deep roots at the school, and an
inspirational leader who enthusi-
astically celebrated his students'
achievements in the classroom, on
the athletic field and in the per-
forming arts.
In addition, Hanna distinguished
himself by giving special attention
to an often-overlooked population:
"regular" students who are nei-
ther high achievers nor potential
dropouts. Moreover, Hanna won

plaudits for pulling often-hilari-
ous stunts to rally Leon students to
participate in various community:
service projects.
So, why did Leon County school
superintendent Jackie Pons pluck
this popular principal from a
position that fit him like a glove?
Pons said he needed Hanna in the
district office to fill one of several
openings caused by recent retire-
ments. While this explanation failed
to satisfy some Leon High loyalists,
all I know is that this job change
never would have happened had
Hanna's move not been a "promo-
tion" to a higher-paying position.
Which begs a larger question:
why are compensation patterns in
education so upside down? Why
do we typically compensate great,
teachers and great principals less
than district office supervisors
whose administrative skills, while
valuable, are often less central to
education's primary task?
Can anyone imagine the owner
of the Miami Heat announcing that
LeBron Jarmes has done such an
outstanding job leading his team to
the NBA championship that he is
being "promoted" to a front-office
job?
Can anyone imagine the Univer-
*sity of Alabama president announc-
ing that Nick Saban has done such
a good job winning football nation-
al championships that he is being
"promoted" to a senior administra-
tive position in the Crimson Tides'
athletic department?
The reason these scenarios are so
unimaginable is because com-
pensation patterns in the world of
sports are guided largely by market
forces. Stars get paid like stars. Role
players get paid like role players.
Top administrators earn a lot, but

they rarely make more than the '
stars they oversee. The stars are at
the center of the action, where high
performance is most prized and
Where differences in quality affects
outcomes the most.
Thankfully, the Florida Legisla-
ture has taken steps in recent years
to introduce performance-based
pay into the education sector.
Sadly, its efforts have been strongly
resisted by the union officials
that claim to represent Florida's
teachers.
This begs another question: Why
do the union officials who negoti-
ate on behalf of teachers make
dramatically more money than
the teachers themselves? Most
Hollywood agents make only a
fraction of the stars they repre-
sent. Yet according to recent Labor
Department filings, the head of
the National Education Associa-
tion currently makes $362,644. The
head of the American Federation
of Teachers pulls down $407,323
a year. Here in Florida, more than
half the Florida Education Associ-
ation's employees have six-figure
compensation packages.
Meanwhile, the average Florida
teacher earns less than $50,000 a
year even if they are a star.
Clearly, it's time to rethink com-
' pensation in education. We need
more performance-based pay to
reward great teachers and to
prevent great principals from being
"promoted" to desk jobs that take
them away from the students they
inspire. That, at least, seems to be
the lesson from the recent brou-
haha in Tallahassee.

William Mattox is a columnist with Florida
Voices and a resident fellow at the James Madi-
son Institute in Tallahassee.

DOUGLAS, Mass. -
Massachusetts authorities
investigating the unsolved
disappearance and death
of a teenage lifeguard 12
years ago say they plan to
examine items found in
the Florida home of a con-
victed killer wrho once lived
near the girl. .
The items were discov-
ered in the Summerfield,
Fla., trailer where Rodney
Stanger once lived with
his longtime girlfriend,
Chrystal Morrison. Stanger
pleaded guilty in October
2010 to fatally stabbing
Morrison in 2008 and is
serving a 25-year prison
sentence.
Morrison's sister, Bon-
nie Kiernan of Douglas,
found the items when she
went to Florida to collect
her sister's belongings. Ki-
ernan 'told The Telegram
& Gazette they include
barrettes, hair bands, and

other personal effects as-
sociated with girls and not
with a woman her sister's
age, who was 50 when she.
was killed. ,
"They're kids' things,"
she said. "They had no
'kids. There were no kids
there."
The items also include a
Massachusetts gun license
with a photo of Stanger
that bears a remarkable
likeness to a sketch of a
man seen hanging around
Comins Pond in Warren in
June 2000 just before 16-
year-old Molly Bish disap-
peared. Molly's remains
were found three years
later in the neighboring
town of Palmer. The sketch
was based on a description
from Molly's mother, Magi
Bish.
"We follow up on every
lead," said Paul Jarvey, a
spokesman for the dis-
trict attorney. He did not
offer any sort of timeline
for when police would

look at the items found by
Kiernan.
Massachusetts State
Police have traveled to
Florida at least once and
Worcester District Attor-
ney Joseph Early Jr: has
confirmed that Stanger is
one of several men being
investigated by his office.
Stanger lived in nearby
Southbridge before mov-
ing to Florida shortly af-
ter Molly's disappearance'
and his birth certificate
indicates he was born in
Warren. Neighbors say
he was familiar with the
woods around the small
central Massachusetts
town.
The news was wel-
comed by Molly's fam-
ily. "I'm hopeful the state
police will follow up with
this," said Heather Bish,
Molly's sister. "We appreci-
ate the people that come
forward because it gives
us a reason to push the
investigation."

Putnam says sugar reduced

in Florida school milk

The Associated Press

Producers have vol-
untarily reduced sugar
content by 38 percent in
chocolate and strawberry
flavored milk that's sold in
most of the state's schools,
Florida's agriculture chief
said Tuesday.
Agriculture Commis-
sioner Adam Putnam also
told the State Board of Ed-
ucation that only low-fat
and no-fat milk is offered
in those schools.
"We can knock two or
three cubes off your chart,"
Putnam said during his ap-
pearance before the panel
at Broward College in Fort
Lauderdale. "We did re-
duce the fat, the carbs and
t)1e sugar without a new
rule."
The board had discussed
possible restrictions on
sugary drinks, including
flavored milk, before the
Legislature approved Put-
nam's request to transfer
its authority over school
nutrition to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture and
Consumer Affairs. The/fed-
erally supported program
provides. more than 277
million meals a year to 1.6
million Florida children.
Of those, 78 percent quali-
fy for free or reduce-priced
lunches.
Putnam, also 'told the
panel he has taken no ac-
tion yet on soft. drinks but
that he expects the fed-
eral government to soon
propose national rules.

School districts set their
own policies for soft drink
vending machines in
middle and high schools.
Most allow students to use
the machines only after
school hours, said Putnam
spokesman Sterling Ivey.
Putnam said the refor-
mulated flavored milk is
sold in' 67 of Florida's 75
school districts. The total
includes 67 county districts
and others for the Florida
Virtual School, university
laboratory schools .and,
other specialized schools.
It began with a small dairy
that changed its formula
at the request of the Sara-
sota County School Dis-
trict last year, Putnam
said.
The commissioner did
not mention the milk
and soft drink issues un-
til questioned-by board
member Robqrto "Bobby"
Martinez.
The Coral Gables lawyer
had opposed moving the
school nutrition program.
He contended Putnam has
a conflict of interest. be-
cause his focus is promot-
ing agriculture.rather than
looking out for children's
best interest. The commis-
sioner, though, insists he
can do both.
The board's consider-
ation of a sugar-limiting
rule drew opposition from
milk producers as well as
some dietitians who were
worried children simply
would stop drinking milk
if they no longer could get

flavored varieties.
Board member John
Padgett, a former school
superintendent from Key
West, led the charge for
limiting sugar. Padgett told
Putnam that many experts
say the expected federal
soft drink rule will be too
weak and pointed out that
some states have imposed
stricter regulations.
"Myview is that there is a
way forward that involves
offerings of 100 percent
juices, waters, flavored wa-
ters," Putnam responded,
noting schools rely on the
vending machines as a
revenue source. "There are
options out there that are
healthier."
Putnam, who has. prom-
ised to make periodic re-
ports' to the board, said
new federal nutrition
guidelines being phased in
over a three-year span will
encourage menus geared
to local, harvests. That will
give Florida, with its year-
round growing seasons, a
competitive advantage, he
said.
"You're going to see an
increase in the number of
fruits and vegetables on
that plate," Putnam said.
"I'd rather eat our fresh
strawberries,, our fresh
citrus, our fresh blueber-
ries, all the things that
are being grown here
during the school-year
months as opposed to the
challenge that, frankly,
other states are going to
have."

State Briefs

Lightning injures
woman at SeaWorld
Orlando
ORLANDO -A 24-
year-old woman Was'
taken to Orlando Regional
Medical Center after being
shocked by lightning while
visiting SeaWorld Orlando.
Orange County Fire
Rescue spokesman John
Mulhall told the Orlando
Sentinel the woman was
indirectly hit by the light-
ping bolt around 5 p.m.
Monday. ,
Mulhall says the woman
was conscious and alert
on the way to the hospital.
Authorities did not re-
lease the woman's name.
No further details were
immediately available'
Baby born in car
parked on 1-95
.MIAMI-A South
Florida woman gave birth
in her car on the side of
Interstate 95.
Authorities say the
woman and her husband
stopped along 1-95 near
the Golden Glades Inter-
change near Miami about
j3:30 a.m. Tuesday when

she went into labor.
The husband called
911, but the baby arrived'
before a Miami-Dade Fire
Rescue crew got there.
Fire rescue spokesman
Wayne Sparks says. they
cut the cord and took the
baby and mother to Me-
morial Regional Hospital

Let
with
nfn

in nearby Hollywood.
Officials did not release
the names of the couple
and there was no word on
whether the baby was a
boy or a girl.
I No further details were
immediately available.

From wire reports

COMERFORD VAULT
MEMORIAL SERVICE
us help you
i a memorial
'PA FITV ^..*

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.
- A gunman who fired
into a crowded bar and
wounded nearly a dozen
people turned himself in
Tuesday, several ,hours
after the rampage rattled
the nearby University of
Alabama campus, police
said.
The man went td a busi-
ness about 45 miles north
of the shooting in Tusca-
loosa and told employees
he, was the suspect, Po-
lice Chief Steve Anderson.
said. The workers called
police and he was taken
into custody.
The police chief would
not identify the man.
Anderson said he still
doesn't know what the
motive is, but authorities
were investigating wheth-
er it involved a dispute
between rival motorcycle
gangs.
Police also said they be-
lieved the rampage was
connected to an earlier
shooting at a home a cou-
ple of miles away from
the bar. One person was
injured in that shooting.
"We feel certain that we
will be able to connect the
dots with this individual,"
Anderson said.
The gunman stood out-
side of the Copper Top
bar for a few moments
around 12:30 a.m. Tues-
day and targeted some-
one inside before firing
through a window, police
said. Customers immedi-
ately ran or crawled away,
and the gunman opened
fire again with a military-
style assault weapon.
Witnesses at the bar de-
scribed a bloody and cha-
otic scene, with glass and
debris flying around the
nightclub.
Rachel Studdard was.
sitting, on a patio with a
group of friends, enjoying

I H ASSUUAI UAtPR)Sb
Tuscaloosa police responded to the scene of a shooting
.early Tuesday morning in downtown Tuscaloosa, Ala., after
a gunman who opened fire outside a crowded bar, wounding
17 people.

50-cent draft beer when
the shooting started.
"We- heard firecracker
sounds. All of a sudden
somebodywas like, 'Is that
gunfire?'" said Studdard,
who. recently graduated
a two-year college and
plans to attend the uni-
versity in the fall. "They
shot in one area and
then they started shoot-
ing. directly where we
were."
'A bullet hit Studdard's
toe, and debris hit her in
the side and in the leg.
Her foot throbbed Tues-
day, she said, and she
was using crutches to
walk. She still had dried
blood on her leg.
The shots fired so
quickly it sounded like
automatic gunfire, she
said.
"There were sparks
coming off the ground
and then I felt a sting and
I knew I'd been hit," she
said.
The police chief said 11
people were hit by gun-
fire and 17 people were
taken to .the hospital.
Most of the injured were
hit by bullet fragments or
debris, said Brad Fisher,
a spokesman at DCH

Regional Medical Center.
Two people were in in-
tensive care, one in criti-
cal condition and the oth-
er in serious condition,
Fisher said. Three people
were in fair condition and
the others were treated
and released.
At least three of the
injured were university
students.

MARKSKINNER/FLORIDAN
Jackson County Fire Marshal Chuck Sawyer (left) and Jackson County Fire Rescue Chief Tony Wesley talk to county
commissioners Tuesday about the possible need for a new fire station on the east end of Marianna.

Fire service issues topic

of budget workshop
L~~d ,

New fire station

discussed near

Indian Springs

BY DEBORAH BUCKHALTER
dbuckhalter@jcfloridan.cqm

As Jackson County and Maria
change and grow, county leai
are contemplating some chai
in fire service to accommodate
shifts.
A looming insurance rating
vey is also driving, the discuss
it could mean higher insura
premiums for an affluent neighi
hood near Marianna and elsewl
unless some adjustments are m
to improve'fire service iri those
eas. A workshop is expected to
scheduled within a month or s
talk about the service countywi'
County Administrator Ted La
said there are many issues at ha
'For instance, Marianna is expa
ing its borders; so much so that
county's main fire station ess
tially abuts the city limits. It is
cated near the Federal Correctic
Institution at the Marianna In(
trial Park, where the city rece
expanded its borders in a series
annexaions.- Currently, Marian
only fie .station is several n
away in the heart of dowfitown.
Since Marianna is responsible
providing fire service within its
limiits, said Lakey, the county ]
want to move some or all of its
personnel and equipimeft to an(
er location and refocus county
vice to areas that remain in the
incorporated areas of the count
In one option, the county co

Center
From Page 1A
"We would not be' here to
without; David and Representa
Coley,".Prough said.
Prough presented her with "
David Coley Box" within the the
and a framed artist rendering of
center.
"This is an awesome thing,
only for Chipola, but for our c(
munity and the surrounding co
ties," Coley said of the center,
marking David would have b
thrilled to see its completion.
Prough was also presented v
his own theater box, named "'
President's. Box," for all of
work to secure funding for the
million theater.
"To see it come alive is just an
ing," Chairman of the Chipola ]
trict Board of Trustees Jan Page
of the theater before present'
Prough with his own 13-seat the-,
box.
The older 350-seat theater po
a challenge for students, requil
them to construct sets in the pz
ing lot, change costumes in the
eteria; and come up with a nunr

transfer that station to Marianna al-
together. In another possibility; the
county could also keep some of its
personnel there, but share the ex-
pense of, and space in, the existing
main station with Mariana and still
add crews for a new county station
elsewhere.
'The ,county moving out of it's
north Marianna location entirely
nna could have some negative results;
ders that might leave the areas above
nges Marianna, like Bascom and Green-
the wood and Malone, more vulnerable
without the county presence so
sur- near on the north side of the neigh-
ion; boring town.
rnce The county, Lakey said, will con-
bor- sider all options in trying to deter-
here mine whether it needs to retool its
iade fire service to more effectively serve
ar- the unincorporated areas of the
lbe county, but one situation in partic-
o to ular is weighing in on the county's
de. concern.
ikey With the affluent neighborhood
nd.. of Indian Springs subdivision fac-
nd- ing a likely downgrade in its fire
t the insurance rating as a result of the
sen- anticipated findings in the current
s Jo- survey underway, Jackson County
onal Commissioners are contemplating
dus- the idea of building a new fire sta-
ntly tion riear it to serve the subdivision
,s of as well as the State Road 71 busi-
na's ness corridor.
iles Jackson County Fire Rescue Chief
TonyWesleywants the board to hire
a for nine new fire-rescue employees to
city man such a station, and in his bud-
may get asked for some money to pre-
own, pare land for the structure. -Com-
oth- missioners set those requests aside
ser- Tuesday when they reviewed Wes-
un- ley's proposed budget, but are likely
y. to revisit it during the workshop.
)uld The county could build that new

of other less than ideal work spaces.
For the audience, finding a bath-
room anytime during their theater
experience in the 1958 building
proved to be a challenge.
Attendees of the ceremony were
treated to tours of some of the
56,000-square foot building to see
its key features.
)) Main theater: Seating for 655
complete with balcony.
) Main stage: Hydraulic orchestra
pit that allows the musicians to be
moved above or below stage level;
modern sound and lighting sys-
tems; rigging that allows actors, sets
and props, to be hoisted in the air.
) Experimental theater: Seating
for 100 that can be moved with a
push of a button, space for classes
as well as student-led productions,
all the lighting and sound features
in the main theater.
) Art Gallery: Will feature student
and community art.-
) Dance studio: Practice space.for
theater and show choir students,
complete with mirror, supportive
flooring.
) Dressing rooms: Rooms for
44 actors to change, store clothes
and fix hair and makeup using lit
mirrors. A

MADDOCHELSNEADS CHAPEL

MADDOX CHAPEL SNEADS CHAPEL

station on a five-acre tract that local
businessman Bob Pforte originally
donated for the construction of a
new health department. That prop-
erty is in Park Centre, located on
U.S. 90 not far from Indian Springs.
Since the health .facility was ulti-
mately placed elsewhere, that prop-
erty is still available to the county
for 6ther uses.
It sits within five miles of all Indian
Springs properties, which is facing a
higher, and therefore, worse, fire rat-
ing that it now has. Called ISO rat-
ings, those numbers figure heavily
when insurance providers calculate
a property's insurance premium.
Indian Springs is currently rated a
9; landowners there may see it go to.
10, Lakey confirmed.
Lakey said having the main sta-
tion near the subdivision and the
SR.71 business corridor could help
the county achieve a better ISO,for
that residential area, the business
community in the vicinity, as well as
other properties within five miles of'
the station. County fire officials say
that if a station were established, a
new ISO survey could, be requested
and received shortly thereafter.
Lakey said he's been' talking in-
dividually with municipal fire -de-
partments across the' county for
.the past several months in an effort
to determine whether the service
needs those and/or some other ad-
justments as well.
"Things have changed 'so much,"
Lakey said. "We have a station right
next to Marianna, but should we be
there now? Should we be looking at
other things? It all needs discussion,
not just that situation but the ei-
tire service. I'm putting out the fact'
that we need to think about these
issues."

)) Set and costume shop: Space
within the building provides a place
to build sets and props and give stu-
dents the ability to move them on
stage.
) Reception area: Box office; new
concessions stand gives workers
the ability to serve cooked food.
For Nick Cessna, a recent Blount-
stown High School graduation com-
ing to Chipola with a theater schol-
arship this year, the new space is
amazing, He's mostly excited about
the main stage filled with the new
equipment.
"As modern as we were getting,
we definitely need a new place,"
Cessna said.
The Chipola theater program al-
lows ,you to become well-round-
ed, Cessna said, with opportu-
nities to build props, man the
audio and lighting equipment and
more.
"It helps you think a lot more than
just about acting," Cessna said.
Sierra Hill, who is in her third year
at Chipola College, was excited for
the separate places to practice, es-
pecially the dance studio.
"It's just an amazing opportunity
* to be a part of this," Hill said. "It's a
blessing."

Ja

I

Forum
From Page 1A
Eventually, the subject
was dropped and the fo-
rum continued, with can-
didates from state and lo-
cal races presenting their
biographies, other infor-
mation about themselves,
and then fielding ques-
tions that members of the
audience had written on
cards.
Two local office seekers
were in the line-up. In-
cumbent District 1 Jackson.
County CommissionerWil-
lie Spires and challenger
Alex McKinnie faced off.
The race for the 14th
judicial circuit State At-
torney's race brought two
people to the podium. Still
busy tending to his son, a
soldier recently injured in
service, incumbent Glenn
Hess sent staff attorney
Greg Wilson in his stead
to face off against a famil-
iar challenger in the race,
former state attorney Jim
Appleman. Hess defeated
Appleman to take over
the post during the last
election.
And the forum also drew
two people seeking office
as a state legislator.
Incumbent 'legislator
Marti Coley and chal-
lenger Danny Glidewell,-
both vying to represent the
newly-realigned District 5
in Florida House of Repre-
sentatives, were on hand
to talk about .their goals
for the office. Coley is icur-
rently serving as District
7 Representative, but the
territory she's running to
represent is now in District
5.
In the lone county race
covered by the forum Mon-
day, Spires and McKinnie
were asked less about local
issues than about matters
related to the U.S. and state,
Constitutions and some
pending U.N. resolutions.
Both men said they were
somewhat unfamiliar with
the U.N. issues, but both
said they object to policies
that threaten the notion of
home rule for the United
States.
Both were asked how they
would keep the local juris-
diction solvent in difficult
economic times, without.
overtaxing citizens. Both
said they would look for all
possible resources at the
state and federal level to
help augment local fund-
ing for important projects
like infrastructure, im-
proved roads and appro-
priate business develop-
ment that could translate
into meaningful employ-
ment for local residents.
In addition to field-
ing questions, Spires and
McKinnie, along with all
the other candidates at
the forum, were given five
minutes each to talk about
why they felt they were the
best candidates for the
jobs they're seeking.
Spires focused on his
record of 19 consecutive
years on the county com-
mission board, saying he
has an open-door policy
and is dedicated to ensur-
ing that all segments of the

county have equal repre-
sentation of their interests.
He also talked about his
involvement in several in-
frastructure improvement
projects, like the county's
current extensive paving
project, and other activities
meant to improve quality
of life and draw more com-
merce to the area.
McKinnie focused on
his seven-year record as
a city commissioner in
Campbellton, citing his
commitment to improv-'
ing community infrastruc-'
ture, resources for young
people, and. mentioning'
hislong-time involvement'
with civic organizations'
dedicated to their commu-
nities. He said he would
strive to avoid wasteful1
spending if elected to be a
county commissioner.
In one of the state races'
covered by the forum, State
Attorney candidate JimAp-.
pleman used a great deal of
his time quoting statistics
that suggest Hess has a less,
stable and effective office
than when he, Appleman,
was at the wheel. He said:
h'e was in the courtroom
more, personally handling
more trials than Hess, and,
said his record of convic-'
tions was more impressive.
He criticized Hess for the
number of plea-bargains
reached in cases under his
leadership. ,
Wilson, speaking on be-
half of Hess, countered' by
indicating that personnel
stability is less important
than getting the right peo-
ple in the right positions,
and that turnover some-
times is necessary to make
that happen., He quoted
statistics, as' well, num-
bers that point to higher'
conviction rates under the'
Hess administration than
Appleman offered.
As, for plea-bargains, 'he
said, Hess chooses care-
fully which cases to bring'
to trial and which to ne-'
gotiate toward appropri-'
ate penalties. He said Hess,
does not typically plea-
bargain in cases involv-
ing a violent offense, but
is open to plea-bargains-
for non-violent offenders
if fair punishment can be
worked out without theex-
pense of a trial.
In the 'Coley-Glidewell
segment of the forum,'
both those candidates
said they believe in, con-1
servative spending, less'
government interference
in private affairs and rep-
resenting the interests of
rural communities.
As evidence of that on
her part, Coley pointed to
her leadership in the suc-'
cessful fight to. repeal the
portion of a new septic'
tank law that would have
implemented mandatory
inspections of ll' septic
tanks every five years.
Glidewell, a retired dep-
uty, said his dedication to
fair play and equal treat-i
ment in that profession'
is evidence of his com-
mitment to making sure
those ideals and princi-1
pies rule the day when it
is time to make decisions
that will affect the lives of
constituents.

Do you have 'Cute Kids'?
Email your'Cute Kids*' photos to editorial@icfloridan.com. mail
them to P.O. Box 520, Marianna, FL 32447 or bring them by our
offices at 4403 Constitution Lane in Marianna.
12 years or younger, u ith Jackson County ties Include child's full
name. parents'name(s) and city of residence. This is a free service
All entries subject to editing

BEIRUT Syrian government
forces attacked rebels with heli-
copter gunships in the heart of
Damascus on Tuesday, escalat-
ing a campaign to crush their
opponents as clashes spread to
new areas, illustrating the rebels'
growing reach.
Cracks of gunfire and explo-
sions echoed inside the capital
for a third day, including a fire-
fight near the country's parlia-
ment, in an unprecedented
challenge to government rule in
President Bashar Assad's seat of
power.
Neighboring Iraq called on its
citizens living in Syria to return
home, as the fighting overshad-
owed another round of diplo-
matic- maneuvering to end the
civil war, with special envoy Kofi
Annan in Moscow in an attempt
to rescue his faltering peace
plan.
Plumes of gray smoke billowed
over the Damascus skyline and
helicopter gunships strafed the
area, activists said a sign the
regime is growing desperate to
push the rebels away from the
heavily-guarded capital.
Terrified families fled the city or
said they were prepared to leave

at a moment's notice. Residents
said they were packing "getaway
bags" in case-they had to run for
' their lives.
"My bag has my family's pass-
ports, our university degrees,
some cash and medicine,"'a 57-
year-old father of two told The
Associated Press, asking that his
name not be used for fear of re-
prisals. "It is very hard to imag-
ine leaving your home and ev-
erything you worked to get, but
it's a matter of life and death."
Clashes were -concentrated
in the neighborhoods of Kfar
Souseh, Nahr Aisha, Midan and
Qadam a mixture of lower-
and middle-to-upper-class
districts in the city's southwest
where street battles first erupted
Sunday. Heavy clashes were also
reported in Qaboun, a neighbor-
hood in northeast Damascus.
"The streets are completely
empty, the shops are closed. Peo-
ple are terrified of what's next,"
said Omar Qabouni, an activist
in Qaboun. He said eight people
were killed Tuesday in mortar
and tank shelling by government
forces. He estimated that about
300 rebels were taking part in the
fighting.
Activists and residents said the
fighting also reached new areas

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
This image made from video provided by Shaam News Network on Tuesday,
purports to show Syrian tanks in Damascus, Syria. :

Tuesday, with brief firefights
erupting in Sabeh Bahrat Square,
Baghdad Street and Sahet Ar-
nous in downtown Damascus,
about 400 yards (meters) from
the Syrian parliament.
The clashes broke up quickly
as the rebels fled, but were a sig-
nificant indicator of the rapidly
spreading violence and the deep
reach of the rebels as they be-
come more confident and better
armed.
The Damascus clashes were

a sign the civil war was likely
to worsen as the Syrian regime
struggles to halt the opposition's
growing momentum.
"The Syrian army's increasing
deployment of artillery and he-
licopter gunships underscores
that the regime is prepared to
escalate its use of force concur-
refitly with the armed opposi-
tion's improving capabilities,"
wrote Torbjorn Soltvedt, senior
analyst at Maplecroft, a British-
based risk analysis company in a

I

Dutch police investigate sandwich needles

The Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Neth-
erlands Police at
Amsterdam's Schiphol
Airport have opened a
criminal investigation into
how needles got into tur-
key sandwiches served to
passengers on Delta Air
Lines flights from Amster-
dam to the United States,
a spokesman said Tuesday.
The FBI also is investigat-
ing the incidents.
Delta said what appear
to be sewing needles were
found in five sandwiches
on Sunday. One passen-
ger on a flight to Minne-
apolis was injured. The
other needles were on two
flights to Atlanta and one
to .Seattle.
"We are keeping all op-
tions open because at this
moment we have no idea
why somebody or some-
iiht 'raiYr iftrti l P-, i dn.i ; hl

A Delta Airlines plane taxis past a gate at Logan Airport in
Boston on Jan. 24. Police at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport
have opened a criminal investigation into how needles got
into turkey sandwiches served to passengers on flights from
Amsterdam to the United States, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Robert van Kapel told
The Associated Press in a
telephone interview.
The sandwiches were
made in the Amsterdam
kitchen of catering com-
pany Gate Gourmet. The
company's listed, address
-in the Netherlands is in the
Schiphol area, where the
Dutch capital's airport is
b.qoqpi '

Consumer Product Safety
Authority, said the agency
also was investigating
"from a food safety point
of view." He said the agen-
cy would share its findings
with the criminal investi-
gation. He declined to give
more detail, citing the on-
going investigation.
Gat6 Gourmet's website
r.nllo tiho d'.fml'na t .fl

for airlines and railroads,"
with 122 flight kitchens
serving 250 million meals
each year and 9,700 flights
per day. The company was
founded in 1992 to cater
Swissair flights and grew
by taking over other airline
' caterers including that of
British Airways. It went
into private ownership
in 2003 and was listed on
the Swiss SIX Exchange in
2009.
The company issued a
statement Monday say-
ing, "'We take this mat-
ter very seriously, and we
have launched our own
full-scale investigation." It
also said it was "heighten-
ing our already stringent
safety and security pro-
cedures, to prevent any
recurrence."
The company also said it
is "treating this as a crimi-
nal act" and stressed it is
"rt-'-n r *t'int rr "f ll it h it ,_

gpuunee esns e e aseu. cau su company, e e cooperaung uin- Vu7 J.y wR A n- ..
sandwiches so that is what Tjitte Mastenbroek, a -world's largest indepen- vestigations by local and -. -
we have to investigate," spokesman for the Dutch dent provider of catering federal authorities and by ':.
airport police spokesman government's Food and Ind provisioning services our customer.".

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar
Myanmar opposition
leader Aung 'San Suu Kyi
said Tuesday she will ac-
cept an award in the Unit--
ed States in September,
making her first U.S. trip in
at least two' decades.
Suu Kyi was greeted en-
thusiastically by world
leaders and human rights
activists during her recent
trips to Thailand and Eu-
rope. A trip to the United
States would likely garner
the same level of attention
as she re-emerges on the
world stage after not leav-
ing her home country for
over 20 years.
The Atlantic Council
think tank said Spuu Kyi
would be presented its
Global Citizen Award rec-
ognizing "visionary global
leaders" on Sept. 21 in New
York..
Suu Kyi confirmed her
trip to The Associated
Press but gave no other de-
tails on her itinerary. The
U.S. State Department said
Suu Kyi would be invited
for meetings with the U.S.
government during her
visit, but it had no details.
"We look forward to an
appropriate date welcom-
ing Aung San Suu Kyi here
to the State Department
and her having bilat-
eral meetings here in the
U.S.," department spokes-
man Patrick Ventrell told
reporters.
Suu Kyi is sure to be feted
in the United States for
her long struggle against
military rule in her home-
land and for championing
democracy. She is revered
by both Republicans and

gLtj.mjl JJglt lI tn .LJ pfo Lncy.
toward Myanmar over the
past two decades, and she
has been supportive of the
Obama administration's
engagement of the reform-
ist Myanmar President
Thein Sein.
The U.S. last week sus-
pended investment sanc-
tions that had been in
force against Myanmar for
15 years. Suu Kyi cautious-
ly supported that move,
but it did expose a rare dif-
ference between her views
and those of the U.S, gov-
ernment, which decided
to allow U.S. companies
to invest 'with Myanmar's

eneLrfprlse. aIsL mon01m,
Suu Kyi opposed foreign
companies working with
that enterprise because of
its lack of openness. *
Suu Kyi spoke by phone
on Monday to Republican
Senate leader Mitch McCo-
nnell, a prominent voice in
Congress on Myanmar is-
sues. McConnnell's office
said they discussed U.S.
sanctions legislation.
The date of the award
presentation is near the
Sept. 18 opening of the
U.N. General Assembly
session in New York, an
event often well-attended
by prominent internation-

early 1970s, Suu Kyi lived
in New York for a couple
of years and worked at the
United Nations.
The longtime leader of
Myanmar's pro-democ-
racy movement spent
most of the last 20 years
under house arrest. Dur-
ing the brief freedoms, she
never left her homime coun-
try because she feared
the military leaders then
in charge of the country
would not let her return.
Freed from her final house
arrest in late 2010, she was
elected to parliament in
April.

Can Yoi d fl.I
Sunday throu'i jh r '"
week the Jackson Co"nty FIljn
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from a location In Jackson County. If
you can Identify the location of these
photos, you will be entered In a weekly
drawing for a chance to win the $50
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I S Complete the ballot and mail your entry to

DEADLINE TO ENTER IS EACH
I THURSDAY AT NOON.
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Marianna, FL 32447, or you can drop it off at our
office located at 4403 Constitution Lane,
I Marianna, FL 32448. You may also enter online
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report released Tuesday.
Syria's state-run news agency
said troops were still chasing
"terrorist elements" who had fled
from Nahr Aisha to Midan. The
Syrian regime refers to armed
rebels as terrorists.
Troops also threw up multiple
checkpoints and were searching
cars in an effort to seal the capi-
tal off from rebellious areas in
the suburbs.
"I can hear cracks of gunfire
and some explosions from the
direction of Midan," Damascus-
based activist Maath .al-Shami
said via Skype. "Black smoke is
billowing from the area."
An amateur video showed
two armored personnel carriers
mounted with heavy machine-
guns,, along with troops who
were said to be advancing on an
empty road toward Midan.
Another video showed a mili-
tary helicopter flying over the
Damascus neighborhood of
Qaboun. The narrator could be
heard saying the area was un-
der "aerial bombardment," al-
though the helicopter was not
seen firing in the 30-second
video.
The authenticity of the vid-
eos could not be independently
verified.,

-18A WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

i. L'

INTERNATIONAL

JEWELERS

British Open

Weather presents major hazard at Open

The Associated Press
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England
- The most valuable slip of pa-
per found at any British Open
is not a list of the odds. It's the
forecast.
Neither of them can be
trusted.

Pot bnkers that are staggered
down the fairway and surround
the green were all the talk Tues-
day at Royal Lytham &* St. Annes,
and no doubt they will play a
critical role in deciding who has
his name engraved on the claret.
jug. Because of a wet spring
- really wet the native grass

covering the dunes and hillocks
is so thick and deep that any ball
going that far off line could be
lost forever.
No matter which links course
golf's oldest championship is
played on, however, ;weather is
as significant as a burn, a bunker
or even an out-of-bounds stake.

This is the only major remain-
ing with a full field that does not
send half the players off on the
first tee and the other half on
the 10th tee. Barry Lane will get
the Open started on Thursday at
6:19 a.m. Ashley Hall will be the
last to tee off at 4:11 p.m.
Now, consider the weather on

INSIDE
)) Phil Mickelson learning new
tricks. 3B

Britain's seaside links can change
in a NewYork minute.
See WEATHER, Page 2B

UIr WORLD SERIES

... .. a -

PHOTOS BY MARK SKINNER/FLORIDAN
Jersie McGinty lunges to catch a low ball during a practice for the 10 and under Southern Elite softball team last week

In pursuit of a

championship

Local teams chasing World Series title this week

BY SHELIA MADER
Floridan Correspondent

The USFA Class C World Series is un-
der way at Frank Brown Park in Panama
City this week, and two teams with ties to
Jackson County are vying for a chance to
become aWorld Series champion.
The Southern Elite 14U team is off to a
great start, finishing pool play with a 2-0
record as they move into bracket compe-
tition on Wednesday. The Southern Elite
10U didn't fair as well in pool play, leav-
ing with a 0-2 record but will start bracket
play with a clean slate on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the 14U took their first
game 5-4 over the Island Voodoo Dolls

from Louisiana before winning 6-2 on
Sunday over the Atlanta Aces. The South-
ern Elite 14U will take the field in bracket
play Wednesday at noon at Frank Brown
Park.
The Southern Elite fell 10-8 in a hard-
fought battle Sunday to the Mississippi
Hot Shots before losing 12-4 to the Prat-
tville Thunder on Monday.
SThey will begin bracket play onWednes-
day at 9:30 at Frank Brown. .
Coach Jkie Vickery praised both of his
teams.
"They've played very well, they've done
great," he said about the 14U team.
He was equally proud of the O1U's.
"They have played hard, and overcome

Kayla Latham gets under a throw during a
Southern Elite 14 and under practice last
week.

a little bit of nerves but you know pool
play is just that and we've let everyone
play. Wednesday starts the real deal and
we will be going after those wins," he
said.

opening address
at SEC media days
Tuesday.
"We must main-.
tain an honest Slive
and open dialogue
across all levels of university ad-
ministration," Slive said. "There
must be an effective system of
checks and balances within the
administrative structure to pro-
tect all who come in contact with
it, especially those who cannot
protect themselves.
"No one program, no one per-
son no matter how popular,
no matter how successful can
be allowed to derail the soul of
an institution."
He didn't mention Penn State,
late coach Joe Patemo or long-
time assistant Jerry Sandusky
by name but acknowledged the
scandal has left university and
athletic officials across the na-
tion sensitive to the issue. The
report by special investigator
Louis Freeh, a former FBI direc-
tor, found that Paterno and other
top Penn State administrators
hid Sandusky's abuse of chil-
dren to avoid negative.publicity
against the university.
After his speech, Slive elabo-
rated on the intentions behind
See SLIVE, Page 2B

Summer olympics,

Organizers insist early woes are minor

The Associated Press

LONDON London Games offi-
cials dismissed concerns Tuesday over
a lost bus driver, a 'scramble for more
security guards and some rain-soaked
venues embarrassments that had
one tabloid newspaper headline us-
ing the Olympic rings to spell out the
word "OOPS!"
Organizers said some of the com-
plaints were exaggerated and tried
to put the best face on the unfolding
security debacle, as well as other con-
cerns about the games, which start in
10 days.
"Let's put this in proportion," Lon-
don Olympics head Sebastian Coe
told reporters. "This has not, nor will

it, impact on the safety and security
of these games. That, of course, is our
No. 1 priority."
His efforts were undercut in Parlia-
ment, where the chief executive of the
G4S security group, Nick Buckles, ac-
knowledged that his company's fail-
ure to recruit enough Olympic staff
had embarrassed the entire nation.
Some 3,500 British troops includ-
ing some just back from Afghanistan
- had to be called in on short notice
to fill the gap. Thousands more mili-
tary personnel had already been as-
signed to the games.
Buckles gave a groveling mea culpa
on live TV as he was being questioned
by angry lawmakers.
"It's a humiliating shambles for the.

country, isn't it?" asked Labour law-
maker David Winnick.
"I cannot disagree with you," Buck-
les said.
He was hard-pressed to explain why
his company had failed to tell officials
until only two weeks before the start
of the games that its recruitment ef-
forts had failed.
Some U.S. security and law enforce-
ment officials had privately expressed
concerns as early as last year that
there might not be enough personnel
for the London Games.
The FBI is sending about two dozen
agents to London to work on Olympic
security, according to two U.S. gov-
See MINOR, Page 2B

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A police officer is framed by the Olympic Rings Tuesday
as he patrols an arrival terminal at Heathrow Airport as
London prepares for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

ATHLON SPORTS
Exclusive one-on-one Interviews with today's top sports superstars? Check.
Feature stories that cut to the heart of why we love sports? They're here, too.
Previews of the top events on the sports calendar? Of course.
Tho same great analysis you've come to expect from America's premier sports publisher Is now available In monthly form.

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JACKSON COUNTY FLORIDAN www.jcfloridan.com

Sex Abuse Scandal

Penn State to respond to NCAA within days

The Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. Penn
State said Tuesday it will re-
spond within days to the NCAA's
demand for information as the
governing body decides whether
the university should face penal-
ties in the wake of the Jerry San-
dusky child sex abuse scandal.
Penn State President Rodney
Erickson said he doesn't want
to "jump to conclusions" about
possible sanctions after the

head of the NCAA declared the
so-called death penalty has not
been ruled out.
The NCAA is investigating
whether Penn State lost "insti-
tutional control". over its ath-
letic program and violated eth-
ics rules. The probe had been
on hold for eight months while
former FBI Director Louis Freeh
conducted an investigation on
behalf of the school's board of
trustees. Freeh's 267-page report,
released last week, asserted that

late football coach Joe Paterno
and.three top officials buried al-
legations .against Sandusky, his
retired defensive coordinator,
more than a decade ago to pro-
tect the university's image.
Sandusky was convicted last
month of sexually abusing 10
boys over a 15-year period. He
awaits sentencing.'
Penn State, with the results of
its own investigation in hand,
can turn its attention .to the
NCAA, Erickson said.

"The NCAA has indicated that
they'd like me to respond ... as
quickly as possible now that we
have the Freeh report," he said.
"So we've already started the
process of starting to compose
that response. We'll do so over
the course of the next few days
and get that response back as
soon as possible, and we'll then
engage in discussions with the
NCAA."
In a PBS interview Monday
night, NCAA President Mark

Emmert said he's "never seen
anything as egregious as this in
terms of just overall conduct and
behavior inside a university."
He said he doesn't want to take
"anything off the table" if there's
a finding that Penn State violated
NCAA rules.
The last time the NCAA shut
down a football program was in
the 1980s, when Southern Meth-
odist University was forced to
drop the sport because of extra
benefits violations.

Weather
From Page 1B

"Being on the right side
of the draw always plays
a part in the Open Cham-
pionship," Darren Clarke
said. "You get good sides,.
bad sides. That's part of
the Open Championship.
The scoring can differ
massively because of these
weather conditions. But
that's part and parcel of
the Open Championship.
Thankfully, I got a good
one last year."
Clarke wound up win-
ning at Royal St. George's,
and Saturday was the key.
He was dressed in full
rain gear, all black, when
he walked onto the first tee
with a share of the 36-hole
lead. When he walked up
to the 18th green, he was
wearing short sleeves and
blinked in the bright sun-
shine of late afternoon.
The morning group faced
raging wind and rain. They
had no chance to make up
ground.

Slive
From Page 1B,
his remarks but demurred
when asked how or wheth-
er the NCAA should pun-
ish Penn State.
"I was talking about how
we all manage intercol-
legiate athletics as part of
the mission of the institu-
tion," he said. "In essence,
what happened there is

Minor
from Page 1B
ernment officials. They
spoke on condition of ano-
nymity because they were
not authorized to talk pub-
licly about the plans.
G4S will pay for its mis-
take, saying it expects to
lose between 35 million
pounds and 50 million
pounds ($54 million to $78
million) on the contract,
which is about 12 percent
of its annual profit.
Olympics minister Hugh
Robertson said the deploy-
ment of soldiers at Olym-
pic Park would give people
"enormous reassurance."
Robertson, an army vet-
eran, said athletes are "in-
credibly reassured to see
the armed forces 'on the
gate."
About 2,500 of the ad-,
ditional personnel will be
/ housed in East London at
Tobacco Dock, a 19th cen-
tury tobacco warehouse
now used as an exhibition
center, the military said.
,Outside Parliament, hun-
dreds of London cabbies
ignited new traffic jams as
they protested their exclu-
sion from special Olympic
lanes set up across the
city's -roads for buses and
cars carrying athletes and
otherVIPs.
As the world's athletes
flew into London on Mon-
day -- the first big day of,
Olympic arrivals a few
buses carrying them from
Heathrow Airport took a
wrong turn and got lost.
"OOPS!" headlined The
Sun tabloid, using two of
the .interlocked Olympic
rings in the word.
"First day. First arrivals.
It's going to happen," said
Jayne Pearce, head of press
operations.
Still, the lost buses -
one carrying Americans,
the other Australians -
itouched a nerve. From the

It was quite the opposite
on a Saturday at Muirfield
in 2002.
Steve Elkington made
the cut on the number and
wound up in a four-way
playoff, helped in part by
playing Saturday morning
in pleasant conditions. Jus-
tin Leonard went from a tie
for 50th to a tie for third by
playing before the 30 mph
gusts and bone-chilling
rain arrived. Tiger Woods?
He wasn't so fortunate. Go-
ing for the third leg of the
Grand Slam that year, he
had a career-high 81.
"I was on the first tee
when that stormed rolled
in, Tiger Woods a group
or two behind me," Clarke
said. "That was a tough
one."
The forecast for the week?
Seems like it changes every
day.
Woods put great detail
into his practice round
Sunday, his first time at
Lytham in 11 years, fearful
that the rest of the practice
rounds would be washed
out and that would be.his
best chances. He wound

something that in a horrif-
ic way reminds us that ath-
letics has a proper place
in' the context of higher
education and we need to
be ever-vigilant all of us
- to make sure we keep
that perspective."
Slive presides over a
league that has captured
the last six football na-
tional titles in a college
football-crazed South. He
dismissed any notion that

very start, London organiz-
ers have feared repeating
the transportation woes of
the 199,6 Atlanta Olympics,
where one of the biggest
problems was hiring bus
drivers from outside the
city who didn't know their
way around.
Coe urged optimism, de-
spite a Twitter storm that
erupted when U.S. hurdler
Kerron Clement took to
the social networking site
to express frustration with
what he said was a four-
hour bus ride from Heath-
' row to the athletes village.
Coe said Clement's bus
journey actually took 2 1/2
hours and most athletes
experienced no problems
in reaching the village.
"Apart from a misturn-
ing and a couple of tweets,
we're in pretty good shape,"
Coe quipped. "The majori-
ty of athletes got in in good
shape and on time. When
they were met by our vil-
lage mayor and chief ex-
ecutive, they were bus-
ily tweeting, saying how
much they were enjoying
village life. Ninety-eight
percent of these journeys
went without a hitch."
At Heathrow itself, the
airport sailed through its
heaviest passenger day
ever with short immigra-
tion lines and plenty of
help for Olympic travelers.
Coe also played down
complaints about a miles-
long traffic jam caused by
the opening of the Olym-
pic lane on the M4 high-
way from the airport into
the city.
"I understand there was
an accident at Reading,
which slowed some stuff
down, but the vast major-
ity of people got through
and it seems to be working
quite well," he said.
The Olympic "Games
Lanes" remain a conten-
tious issue. Hundreds of
London cab drivers block-
aded the square outside

up playing the next two
mornings, and the um-
brella never came out of
the bag.
Lee Westwood felt like a
genius Monday afternoon
when he and Luke Don-
ald decided to go out for a
practice round in the rain.
Well before they finished,
the sun was out, the breeze
was gentle, and, it was
ideal.
"It was one of the best
Open Championship prac-
tices I ever had,"Westwood
said.
The latest forecast -
hold your umbrellas is
for rain on Wednesday,
ending sometime Thurs-
day morning, followed by
something called a "dry,
spell" that could last into
the weekend, accompa-
nied by gusts anywhere
'from 15 mph to 25 mph,
more or less.
Rory Mcllroy was the heir
apparent in golf last year at
Royal St. George's, lost his
way in the wind and rain
and then stunned British
writers, who found out
that the kid from North-

the region's culture makes
SEC schools any more
susceptible to issues with
football's role.
"We all need to be vigi-
lant," he said. "We have
very active presidents and
chancellors in the policies
within the conference. The
important thing is that our
athletic programs are op-
erated within the context
of higher education and
'the context of our schools'

Parliament on Tuesday,
blaring horns and snarl-
ing traffic'to protest their
exclusion from the lanes.
The cabbies claim it will be
all but impossible to ferry
passengers around once
mo6t of the special lanes
take effect July 25.
Britain's notorious rainy
weather may prove an even
more intractable problem.
Coe said "we've got mops
and buckets" to deal with
the incessant rain that has
soaked London for most
of the summer. There is
waterlogged ground at
two key venues rowing
at Eton Dorney west of
London and equestrian at
Greenwich Park, south of
the Thames River.
"It is a problem," Coe
said. "It is causing us extra
challenges now."
Organizers are resurfac-
ing areas at the two ven-
ues, laying down tempo-
rary tracking for vehicles
and spectators, and put-
ting up special tent shel-
ters to keep the workforce
dry, he said.
Although forecasters

ern Ireland prefers sunny
and calm weather. He did
join the PGA Tour this year
and lives part of the year in,
Florida. ,
He also learned from his
mistakes, which in this
case was his attitude.
"Those comments .were
just pure frustration, hav-
ing really high expecta-
tions going into it, com-
ing off a major win, really
wanting to play well, get
into contention and not
doing that," Mclroy' said.
"And blaming the weather,
blaming the draw; blaming
my luck, basically."'
No other major cham-
pionship requires more
luck than the British Open,
though that's been the case
since it was first played
at Prestwick in 1860, the
year Abraham Lincoln was
campaigning for U.S. pres-
ident. It's links golf. There
are funny bounces on the
ground. Some golf balls
bounce to the right and
go into a pot bunker, some
bounce to the left and wind
up close to the pin.
It can be just as mysteri-

missions."
He noted that the presi-
dents themselves meet
regularly, allowing them to
discuss both athletics and
university-wide issues.
Slive also used his ad-
dress to emphasize the
progress in hiring minority
coaches since he was hired
10 years ago, when the SEC
had never had a black head
football coach.
Now, the SEC has three

say. the weather could
clear in time for the July
27 start of the games, Coe
noted that organizers have
contingency plans. Extra
competition days were
built into the schedule "as
a last resort" for rowing
and equestrian. There is
an alternate course avail-
able for sailing events at
Weymouth, in southeast
England, and Wimbledon
has a.retractable roof over
Centre Court for tennis.
Olympic Park, however,
still resembles a construc-
tion site, with workers lay-
ing cables, installing seats
and landscaping grounds
Tuesday.
Not to worry, Coe said.
"Our venues will be open
on time," he promised.
"There is still stuff to be
done, 'but it's about dress-
ing up. We'll be ready."
Organizers also said they
are reducing capacity at
several stadiums hosting
soccer matches after fail-
ing to sell all the tickets.
More than 1 million
soccer tickets had been
left unsold recently, but

ous in the air. '
Geoff Ogilvy recalls see-
ing Mcllroy coming up the
18th at St. Andrews two
years ago with a chance
to break the major cham-
pionship record of 63. He
had to settle for par in
such easy scoring condi-
tions that it still only gave
him a two-shot lead. That
.was amunong early starters,
of course.
"By the time I got to the
third hole, it was blowing
30," Ogilvy said.
Payback came the next.
day, when the wind blelW so
hard in the afternoon that
play was stopped because
golf balls were moving on
:the putting greens. McIlroy
shot 80. Louis Oosthuizen
was early enough Thursday
afternoon to miss some of
the riasty stuff, and super
early Friday .morning to
again dodge the worst of it.
He won by seven shots.
Most of the time in
America, especially in the
summer, the hope is to
play in the morning before
the wind arrives, or the
threat of thunderstorms.

-Texas A&M's Kevin Sum-
lin, Kentucky's Joker Phil-
lips and Vanderbilt's James
Franklin. The league has
eight black men's basket-
ball coaches and five more
leading women's basket-
ball programs.
Slive pointed to Missis-
sippi State's hiring of Syl-
vester Croom to break that
color barrier in 2004 as a
highlight of his tenure.
"It was a moment in time

organizers cut the num-
ber by reducing capacity
by 500,000 at the various
venues, which means they
might not open a section or
a top tier of the stadiums.
Organizers said 250,000
soccer tickets. are still on

In Britain, anything goes.
Not until Thursday and
perhaps Friday, Saturday
and Sunday will play-
ers get a sense of whether
they got the good end of
the draw.
Not everyone has to face
the bad weather, if' there
even is any. But, everyone
has to face it.
And that might be the
secret.
Ogilvy has missed his
last-five cuts in the Open,
which he attributes to bad
play some years, and a bad
draw in other years. Royal
Birkdale,_ for example,
served up wind and rain
so brutal Thursday morn-
ing in 2008 that Sandy Lyle
and Rich Beem walked
off the course. Ogilvy was
right in the middle of it. He
opened with a 77 and was
on his way to missing the
cut. He left Birkdale feeling
as. though he were the vic-"
tim of another bad draw.
Except for one thing. ,
"Padraig Harrington
played in the group behind
me," Ogilvy said. 'And he
won the tournament."

that I will always remem-
ber as one of the inost
significant things that has
happened in my tenure
and that could happen in
my tenure," he said.
And now?
"I am very grateful that
the hiring of minority
coaches in the Southeast-
ern Conference is no lon-
ger a story," he said. ."It
is simply part of who we
are."

sale and that an addi-
tional 200,000 tickets will
go on sale soon after be-
ing returned by national
Olympic conVnittees. A
further 150,000 free tick-
ets could be released for
schoolchildren.

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, that's made me really en-
England joy and appreciate playing
e is one of those links golf and playing in
guys people the elements."
Sa;"nand Last week, Mickelson
when misy" ndeven cut short a family
When they say "so-and- vacation to play in the
so leads a charmed Jimlit1e Scottish Open, where he
existence." finished tied for 16th.

Phil Mickelson might
have argued that point
not too long ago, at least
where the British Open
was involved. But no
more. As if Mickelson
needed reminding, he
crested a hill in the 17th
fairway Tuesday at Royal
Lytham to find his tee shot
wasn't nearly as disastrous
as he had imagined.
Sure, it was only a prac-
tice round, but consider-
ing how much money was
being wagered by the lefty
and playing partners Rick-
ie Fowler, Dustiol Johnson,
and NickWatney, a break
that good was likely to pay
dividends. That was con-
firmed once Mickelson's
caddie, trailing by several
strides, located the boss'
'ball..
"That's what I'm talking'
about!" Jim "Bones"
Mackay howled.
Ithad come to rest
inches from the right edge
of the last of seven deep
bunkers lining the left side
of the fairway. If Mickelson'
had been a right-hander,
he would have had to step
into the sand, dig in his
cleats and hit the ap-
proach from a lie with the
ball some two feet above
his own.
Instead, he quickly set
Up on the starboard side
of the ball and sent an
8-iron zooming to within a
dozen feet of the flag. The
value of that routine par at
17 became clear some 20
minutes later, when Mick-

Sports Commentary
elson and Fowler strolled
off the 18th green with ,
fatter wallets, wider grins
and wouldn't you know
it? moments ahead of
yet 'another downpour.
There was a time when
Mickelson found very little
to like'about playing on
this side of the pond. Hav-
ing grown up in San Diego,
he wasn't crazy about the
weather.
As a player whose
strengths are fighting the
ball with different trajec-,
tories and delicate spins,
he seemed unsettled by
the unyielding turf and the
need to play the ball along
the ground.That much
was apparent from his
track record at the Open,
easily his worst among the
game's four majors.
'Aside from the suc-
cess you had last year,
how would you describe
how your attitude toward
this championship has
changed?" Mickelson was.
asked.
He considered the
question a moment. "It's
evolved favorably, I think.
It took me a while to be
able to understand what
it meant to get the ball
on the ground.... It didn't
really click until six, eight
years ago.
"Now," he added, "when
it gets really bad weather,
my misses in crosswinds
are not as bad as they-
used to be, because it's on
the ground and out of the
wind a lot quicker. And

"He's finally getting the
whole bad-weather thing,"
said Butch Harmon,
Mickelson's swing coach.
"He likes to bomb the ball,
take risks and, until the
last couple years, he was
stubborn about changing.
"But the second last year
at (Royal) St. George's re-
inforced some of the work
we'd been doing and now,,
the worse the conditions,
the more conservative
his game gets. If Phil is
going to win one of these,"
Harmon added, "it will be
because he's playing them
a lot differently from the
way he used to,"
Mickelson's play on
links courses is hardly the
only thing that's changed
during his career. He won
a PGA Tour event as a
21-year-old amateur, but
another 13 years passed
before Mickelson won
his first major. There's np
way to know how many
more he might have won
had Tiger Woods not
come along to dominate
what should have been
Mickelson's prime. And
yet, you could argue he's
aged more gracefully than
his grandest rival and last
year, according to Forbes
magazine, even put more
money in the bank.
He's also part of a group
bidding to buy his home-
town baseball team, and'
not just because he loves
throwing the ball around
and perhaps has designs
on becoming the Padres'
batting-practice pitcher.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phil Mickelson plays a shot on the 10th hole Tuesday during a practice round at Royal Lytham &
St Annes golf club ahead of the British Open Golf Championship in Lytham St Annes, England.

"There were a number "I feel like there's no-
of reasons. But I really like' reason," he said, "that I
the people I'm involved
with," Mickelson said.
"And I think they're just as A
competitive as I am."
The quick smile and
swashbuckling style have '
been tempered by his re-.
cent battle with psoriatic 4
arthritis, as well as those
of his wife and mother '
against breast cancer. That
competitive edge, though,
hasn't been dulled. 0
"It's important as a
player to be able to keep
your mind on the task at
hand when you're on the
golf course and not let it
waver," he said. "Certainly
for a couple of years it was
difficult to do. But right
now, you know, everybody
is doing great. I mean, my
wife and mom are doing.
terrific. They're just really
in a good spot. My health
has been really good....

Previous Solution: "I don't want nobody putting me on a pedestal when I leave
here. I'm just one of the people." Doc Watson
TODAY'S CLUE: A sienba
02012 by NEA, Inc., dist. by Universal Uclick 7-18

Horoscope
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
-If you're not careful, a do-
mestic confrontation over
a minor infraction could
overwhelm the household.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -
Although normally you're
pretty good about keep-
ing your temper in check,
if you're not careful you
could spontaneously over-
react should your views or
opinions be challenged.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Hanging around with
friends who are notorious-
ly extravagant or reckless
with their funds opens up
the possibility of you fol-
lowing their lead.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23)
If you're at odds with
your mate over something
trivial, make sure you re-
solve it before going out
with friends.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov.
22) Be exceptionally
careful if you have to work
with tools or materials with
which you're unfamiliar.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-
Dec. 21) When out with
friends, be on your best be-
havior if you find someone
in the group to be brash or
rude.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan.
19) Before establishing
a big objective, be sure it's
truly worthy of the trouble
it might take to achieve it
and not something that
you won't appreciate once
you get it.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.
119) Your manner of ex-
pression could make a
much stronger impres-
sion than you are likely to
intend.
PISCES (Feb. 20-March
20) Being a bit of a risk
taker, you could easily
jump into something that
is financially way over your
head.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Think twice before pull-
ing the rug out from under
a direct competitor.
TAURUS (April 20-May
20) Instead of vowing to
eventually correct a-mis-
take you made, take action
the moment you realize
your gaffe.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
- There's a chance you
could get caught up in a
situation in which the po-
sition you want to take
opposes the will of the
majority.

Annie's Mailbox

Dear Annie: I have been married to an
amazing woman for two years. I work
*away from home, and she manages to
take care of everything and work full
time. She also is a caregiver for her moth-
er, and for this reason, we have decided
to put off having children.
I have a 4-year-old son with my ex.
I pay regular child support, but until
recently, I haven't been able to see much
of him because of my schedule. Also, my
ex is uncooperative. I recently found out
some disturbing things about my son's
home environment, and my family has
suggested I ask for full custody.
The problem is that there always has
been speculation about whether the boy
is really my biological child. Mywife says
she prefers to'know he's mine before
she undertakes such a huge responsibil-
ity. She will be raising the boy by her-
self while I am working out of state for
months at a time.
But, Annie, I'm not sure I really want
to know whether this is my child. I love

Bridge

If you go down in a contract, it is surely because ,
your partner overbid. If not that, then the distri-
bution was so bad that you had no chance. But
just maybe you misplayed.
In this deal, South was in six spades. West led the
diamond jack: queen, king, ace. Declarer ran the
spade queen, but it lost to East's king, and a dia-
mond return defeated the contract.
Did North overbid, was South unlucky, or did he
misplay?
North was optimistic in looking for a slam. AAd,
yes, South was unlucky that the lead was a dia-
mond, the king was over the queen, and the spade
finesse lost. However, he misplayed.
Suppose the trump finesse had worked. What
would South have done then? He would have
drawn trumps and taken the club finesse. If it
won, he would have collected an overtrick, but if
it failed, he would have gone down one.
The spade finesse was a black herring. South
needed the club finesse, and if that was working,
he could afford the loss of the trump finesse.
After West did not cover the spade queen, South'
should have won with dummy's ace and called
for the club queen. East would probably have
covered. South would have won and taken his
other two club winners, discarding dummy's dia-
mond loser. Then he would have led a trump and
claimed.

him regardless, and if tests prove he isn't
my son, I will never see him again. Is it
fair of me to ask my wife to raise the boy
anyway?
--STILL HIS DAD

Dear Still: This is your son, legally if
not biologically. While it is asking a lot of
your wife to take on this responsibility,
we hope she will do so not only for your
sake, but for the boy's. He needs a stable
mother.
Please look into getting some child
care assistance for her so she isn't over-
whelmed and resentful. But you should
also get a paternity test. If this child is not
yours, he should have his full medical
history.
Dear Annie: My husband's 35-year-old
daughter, "Effie," has a college degree,
but has never held a job. My husband
sends Effie most of his Social Security
check each month and also pays her
credit card bills, which means he is now.
in debt to the tune of $10,000.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

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PAU, France Bradley Wig-
gins considers the two punishing
days that await in the Pyrenees,.
climbs that have broken many
riders. He insists these stages are
nothing special.
"It goes uphill like all the oth-
ers, doesn't it?" he said.
The nonchalance of the Tour
de France leader will indeed be
tested.
OnWednesday, there's the "Cir-
cle of Death," as the four brutal
climbs are known, none more
daunting than the 7,000-foot
Tourmalet. On Thursday, the last
summit finishes atop the 5,300-,
footPeyragudes.
Wiggins is talking a big game
in his bid to become Britain's
first Tour de France champion.
He says Wednesday's stage "isn't
any more difficult than any other
stage we've done up to this stage,
really."
Wiggins has reason to be con-
fident. His Team Sky is stacked
with such strong climbers as
Norwegian champion Edvald
Boasson Hagen, Australians
Richie Porte and Michael Rog-
ers, 'and above all Kenyan-born

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bradley Wiggins, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates on
the podium of the 14th stage of the Tour de France over 191 kilometers
(118.7 miles) with start in Limoux and finish in Foix, France, on Sunday.

Briton Christopher Froome. Still,
questions remain.
Will "King of the Alps" Pierre
Rolland also dominate the Pyr-
enees? Or will the man from
Down Under, defending, cham-
pion Cadel Evans, go over the
top in a last-ditch move to save
his Tour de France dream?
Rolland has been hailed in
France following a victory at
l'Alpe d'Huez in 2011 and a win
at the La Toussuire ski resort last
week. But he must persevere in

the Pyrenees if he wants to catch
Sweden's Frederik Kessiakoff in
the race for the polka-dot climb-
ers jersey that designates the
Tour's King of the Mountains.
Overall, Wiggins leads Froome
by 2:05 and Vincenzo Nibali
of Italy by 2:23. Evans remains
fourth, and the Aussie needs to
attack to begin cutting into his
3:19 deficit in the chase for the
yellow jersey.
The 154 other riders left in
the 99th Tour will have plenty

of time to ponder the 16th and
17th stages the Pyrenees are
visible on the horizon from Pau,
the medieval city where the race
pauses for its last rest day.
Team Sky spent its day off
there recuperating from more
than two weeks of nearly non-
stop racing.
"A little bit of a lie-in, a couple
miles out on the bike to keep the
momentum going, a bite to eat,
massage, media, a meal, sleep,"
team manager Dave Brailsford
said. "That's pretty much it,
really."
R & R will be the order of the
day fdr other teams as well in a
Tour that has become of a war of
attrition. Crashes and illnesses
have already caused more than
20 percent of the original 198
starters in Liege, Belgium, to
quit,
"We try not to get carried away
with emotion. It's all about per-
formance and we're very busi-
nesslike at this stage," Wiggins
said during a news conference
Tuesday.
The coming ride is through
the mountains forming France's
border with Spain. Among the
Pyrenean peaks that will haunt

riders are a chain of moun-
tains so difficult they have been
known as the -"Circle of Death"
since cyclists first scaled them in
the Tour of 1910.
"Generally, the Pyrenees are
a bit harder than the Alps," said
U.S. cyclist Tejay van Garderen,
who holds the white jersey for
best rider 25 and under. "The
roads are a bit rougher. They're
just a bit more taxing.'"
The four legendary passes the
riders will climb Wednesday
Share the Peyresourde, Aubisque,
Aspin and Tourmalet, the high-
est point on this year's Tour. The
pack on Thursday must ascend
the Col de Mente and Port de
Bales before scaling Peyragudes.
Pierrick Fedrigo of France won
Monday's 15th stage by leading a
two-man final breakaway. Wig-
gins kept the lead as he stayed
with his rivals in the main pack
far behind.
The 99-mile route from Sa-
matan to Pau had a mostly flat
layout, but teams with strong
sprinters didn't try to chase down
the breakaway riders as fatigue
kicked in following a fast start.
Wiggins finished 11 minutes, 50
seconds behind.

National Basketball Association

Report: Linheaded

to Houston Rockets

The Associated Press

HOUSTON The New
York Knicks are not plan-
ning to match Houston's
offer for Jeremy Lin,. ac-
cording to a published
report.
The New York Times,
citing an unidentified
source, says deliberations
are over for the Knicks
and they have elected
not to equal the Rockets'
three-year, $25 million
offer sheet, signed by Lin
last Friday. New York of-

ficially had until 11:59
EDT to decide whether
to re-sign Lin, a restricted
free agent, and The.Times
cautioned there is an "in-
credibly small" chance
the decision could be
reversed.
Team officials would not
confirm that any decision
was final.
Lin catapulted to in-
ternational stardom last
February, when he joined
the Knicks' lineup and av-
eraged 21 points and 8.4
assists.

Major League Baseball

Blue Jays put

Bautista on DL

The Associated Press

NEWYORK- Jose Bautista was placed on the 15-day
disabled list Tuesday with inflammation in his left wrist
and the Toronto Blue Jays called up outfielder Anthony
Gose from Triple-A Las Vegas. '
The team did not give a timetable for Bautista's return.
After leaving Monday night's loss to the New York Yan-
kees when he felt pain in his wrist on an eighth-inning
swing, the All-Star slugger had an MRI on Tuesday that
revealed the inflammation.
The two-time defending AL home run champion was
tied for second in the majors with 27 homers.
He is batting .244 with 65 RBIs and a .360 on-base
percentage.